Gregory Lombardi, age 12, of Vandergrift, Pa., for his question:
WHAT IS THE STORY OF THE COELACANTH?
The spelling of coelacanth seems quite unrelated to its pronunciation which is see luh canth. If this is bothersome, it is permissible to call him Old Fourlegs, alias the living fossil. For until 1938, the world of science assumed that this fishy fellow and all his kinfolk became extinct long ages ago. Then, to and behold, up he popped in the land of the living.
Scientists traced back the amphibian family tree to a fishy ancestor that thrived in the seas between 450 and 70 million years ago. His fossil remains revealed certain nonfishy traits, including fins that grow from the ends of stubby limbs. It was assumed that these four fish legs later developed into frog legs, and the rather nonfishy breathing system became lungs.
This peculiar old timer was named the coelacanth and classified as extinct, along with many other species that died out in the dim past. Then on Dec. 22, 1938, a fishing trawler off the east coast of South Africa dredged up a startling surprise. It was a five foot bluish whopper and four of his fins sprouted from the ends of stubby limbs.
The specimen lived four hours before reaching a lady scientist, who made careful notes. However, the critter decayed before others could study it. But the notes suggested that here was a living fossil of the coelacanth, an ancestoral animal assumed to have been extinct for some 70 million years.
Fishermen around the Indian Ocean were alerted to be on the lookout for more specimens. The next one was dredged up on Dec. 20. 1952, by a hook and line fisherman named Ahmed Hussein. He landed his valuable catch from 65 feet of water off Comores Islands near Madagascar. It was a five footer, weighing 100 pounds.
Scientists were notified and arrived by plane to transport the priceless specimen to a lab, where it was studied in detail. Yes, indeed, it was a coelacanth a living fossil.
Meantime the region was flooded with leaflets in three languages, offering a reward for the first two specimens captured and delivered in good shape. The next one was caught off the Comores Islands in September, 1953. Two more were caught in the same region during January, 1954.
When at home, the coelacanths apparently live in deep water under heavy pressure. Most of them soon die near the surface, though several have survived in aquariums for a few hours. Although most studies have been made on dead bodies, scientists are quite sure that the ancient coelacanth has survived to modern times.